MAKING TRACKS: STREAMSONG WILL ADD THIRD COURSE

By Torleif Sorenson on 1/22/15

After a very successful and critically-acclaimed debut, Streamsong Resort in Florida will add a third golf course, along with a second practice facility, restaurant, and clubhouse.

Built over a disused phosphate mine, Streamsong started with the Tom Doak-designed Blue Course, which is co-routed with Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw's Red Course. Two courses being designed and constructed by different architects simultaneously is practically unheard of, but Streamsong's Red and Blue are so critically acclaimed that they are both ranked among the top 16 on Golf Magazine's list of top 100 public-access courses in the United States.

Now, Streamsong's owners have tabbed architect Gil Hanse, the author of the Olympic golf course in Rio de Janiero and other notable layouts, to design the Black Course. Black will be built southeast of the two existing 18s and not be geographically intermingled. The separation actually works to his advantage, says Hanse:

"It's similar to the other sites in that it's sand-based, with dunes and wild-looking native grasses. But I think it's going to feel wider and broader, with longer flowing ridges as opposed to more abrupt undulations. It has a ton of possibilities. We should be able to do something pretty cool and linksy-feeling there."

This is not the first time Hanse has been retained to design where Doak and the Coore-Crenshaw crew have worked; he is reportedly in line to design a sixth course at Bandon Dunes Resort in southwestern Oregon, where the aforementioned architects have designed award-winning layouts.

One additional (and delicious) rumor is that Streamsong may also build a fourth course at some point. Fiscally, this not only makes sense for the resort's owners, but also for residents and other business owners in Polk County. In 2014, Streamsong and the three-year-old Legoland Florida in Winter Haven drew record numbers of tourists and revenue.

Construction on Hanse's Streamsong Black will begin this summer and reportedly be finished in the autumn of 2017. The resort is located just 60 miles southeast of Tampa and roughly 90 miles southwest of Orlando. It also occupies a place on this writer's "golf bucket list."


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Press release

Image via Hanse Golf Course Design